"I don't love you!", Sherlock shouted at her, not one speckle of remorse shown on his features. Molly slinks away and tears begin to fill her eyes.

"You don't mean that. You don't! I know you love me!"

"I do mean that", he says menacingly, stepping closer to her until she is staring up at him, and he down at her, nearly nose to nose. "You are pathetic, weak, clingy, and worthless. How could you have possibly believed that I ever loved you?"

Molly's lower lip trembles, and Sherlock scoffs. "Always so emotional, so weak."

"Sherlock, stop it, it's not funny anymore!"

"Oh, this isn't a /game/, Molly. Not an /experiment/, nor a /case/. Just simple, blunt fact."

Unable to stop it, hot stinging tears begin to flow down her cheeks, a red flush upon them in embarrassment and humiliation. "Sherlock…", she whimpers. "What about our future…w-we we're happy…I-I..I don't understand why you're saying these things to me."

"What are you? Nothing more than a useless scrap of plainness. Just a mousey morgue-dweller. There's a reason why you're more fitted to be with the dead. Nobody alive can stand you, not even your own mother. She hated you, and everyone else hates you too. You are nothing. You shouldn't even be alive."

A sob escapes her as she collapses into a heap onto her sofa, curling up into the fetal position. She tries her best to drown him out, but the insults keep being hurled at her; they just keep coming. They are all feasible ones in her mind as well. For as long as she has lived, Molly Hooper has been self-conscious. It's known that her mother was a horrible woman who did in fact hate her only daughter for no reason and would even go as far as using her as a punching bag for her frustrations on occasion. Even once her father took her away from all of that when he was relieved from the Army, the effects lingered and she was never fully confident, even in her adult life.

"Look at you! You aren't even pretty. Not even as beautiful as a grown woman should be. Not to mention you don't even try! You're too skinny, your hair is boring, you're small, your eyes don't capture anyone's attention, and on top of that you're a slut for any man who even gives you a passing smile. Why the hell would you ever think I would want to waste my precious time on you, of all people!? I could have any woman I wanted at this point. Why on Earth would I choose you?"

"Please stop…", she cries weakly. "Sherlock…I'm sorry."

"You're an annoyance, and a chip on my shoulder and I wish that I had never met you. You don't make a difference in anyone's lives. You are a wallflower. You are nothing and nobody cares about you. You're just background noise! Pathetic, pining, people pleaser. You disgust me."

Molly sobs into her hands, all of her insecurities exposed and used against her by the man she loved more than life itself at one point or another. "Y-You told me you loved me."

"It was a trick. My sister had to believe that I cared or else my plan would never have worked. I don't care about you, and I don't love you. I never have and I never will. In fact, you're not even a friend to me. You're someone I knew I could use whenever I wanted. I'd say jump and every time you'd ask how high. Anything to get seconds of time in the same room with me", he laughs darkly. "I tolerated you because I needed access to the morgue!" He begins to leave out her front door, but in a flash, she is on the ground, death-grip on his leg, sobbing and begging him not to leave.

"Please don't leave me, please…Sherlock don't leave me!"

Sherlock shakes her hard from his leg and sneers. "There's a reason everyone you ever loved has left you." With that he seems to disappear into a deep, dense fog. Molly is taken over by the current of the fog as well, struggling and sobbing all the while it consumes her.

"Molly! Molly!" Sherlock shouts and shakes her softly. "Molly, wake up!"

Molly startles awake with a strangled gasp and looks around quickly, seeing Sherlock's concerned face. She is drenched in sweat and panicked. Sobbing hard, she clings tightly to him. Sherlock wraps his body gently around hers, holding her close. "Oh…Molly…I'm here, I've got you. That was a horrible nightmare, love. I'm right here…I'm not leaving, I'm here", he murmurs soothingly into her hair.

"Y-You said you didn't love me...y-you said horrible things", she cries brokenly.

Sherlock swallows hard and strokes her back soothingly. "No…I would never say that. I love you very very very much. You have brought so much light into my life, Molly. I need you, and I will always want you. I adore you."

Her lip trembles and she looks at him, crushed. "I-I'm pathetic a-and ugly and…and nobody likes me."

"Hey", he says sternly and cups her face with his large hands. "Now, you listen to me. You are incredible. You're brilliant, and beautiful, and one of the strongest women I have ever met in my entire life. You have been through so much, and I know that some of that hurt lingers. Believe me, I know. My demons can linger in my head sometimes too. But I promise you with my entire heart that I am completely and irrevocably in love with you, Moll."

He takes her hand and strokes over the band of her engagement ring gently. "I want you to be my forever, and I don't ever want anything else. I will never hurt you like that. Never again", do you believe me?"

Molly sniffles and moves to wipe her face from all the tears, nodding softly. "I-I'm so sorry…i-it was so real…I thought…", she hugs him tightly again and gently nuzzles his neck.

"Shh…it's alright now. We'll be alright. I've got you. Right now, and forever. I've got you."

She looks up at him and kisses him lovingly, cupping his cheeks. Sherlock cradles her face and kisses back, smiling softly as they pull away. "I love you so much, Sherlock."

"I love you too. Always and forever, future Doctor Molly Holmes."

Molly smiles shyly, breaking through her sense of anxiousness and panic and cuddling into him. "I like the sound of that, and I'm sorry I woke you up."

"You didn't, don't worry. How about we go and make some pancakes? I know we don't have strawberries, but how does chocolate chip sound?"

"Oooh…", she says softly. "That sounds good. Alright."

Sherlock nods and helps her out of bed. "How about a shower first?", he coos lovingly, stroking down some of her wild bedhead from thrashing around in her sleep.

Molly blushes, looking up at him. "Okay. Thank you…for…being here. Handling me like this…it's not one of my finest hours…"

"Molly, I have bad days too, as you very well know. Plus, it's only fair that I see the worst of you since you've seen the worst of me so many times. Now we can really get married", he jokes lightly.

Chuckling softly, she moves onto her tiptoes and pecks his lips. "I love you."

"I love you, Molly. Now let's go have that nice shower", he smiles and scoops her up. Molly wraps her arms around him and rests her head on his shoulder, finally relaxing into the fact that her nightmare was not her reality.